Newspaper Page Text
t
FAC-E 6—THE BULLETIN, June 27, 1959
NURSING
can be the best preparation
for a PROFESSIONAL
or for the RELIGIOUS life
career for MOTHERHOOD
— Write or Call —
ST. JOSEPH’S INFIRMARY
SCHOOL OF NURSING
ATLANTA. GA.
JA. 5-4631
BOOK REVIEWS
EDITED BY EILEEN HALL
3087 Old Jonesboro Road, Hapeville, Georgia
Each issue of this Book Page
is confided to the patronage of
Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces,
with the hope that every read
er and every contributor may
be specially favored by her
and her Divine Son.
THIS IS YOUR TOMORROW
. . . AND TODAY, by Rev. M.
Raymond, O. C. S. O., Bruce,
$3.95.
What does a wife do when she
BEST WISHES
'"’sir ii 3
l B. ELAM
MAINTENANCE PAINTING
404 SOUTH CHURCH STREET
TELEPHONE UN. 5-2020
GASTONIA, N. C.
learns that her husband has
inoperable cancer and is given
only a few months to live?
Numerous families face similar
problems, but not all of them
have the graces and help that
Kay Flanagan had. In particular,
very few have a brother-in-law
like Father Raymond to turn to
for advice and assistance, as
Kay had.
This popular Trappist author
not only broke the news to his
younger brother Charlie, that
Kay and their seven children
would soon be left without hus
band and father, but he support
ed them all, during the remain
ing months, with his frequent
letters showing persuasively
that such a problem, which
seems terrible at first glance,
is actually, on the contrary, a
rich source of graces for all con
cerned—an invitation to “fill
up what is wanting of the pas
sion of Christ” and, moreover,
an opportunity to live, here and
now, the GLORIOUS mysteries
of the Rosary.
There is never the slightest
note of pity or morbidity in the
way that Father Raymond and
his family face their great op
portunity. Their living of it,
told in the familiar style of this
eloquent and loquacious Trap
pist, should serve as a blueprint
for hundreds, even thousands, of
others. One only wishes that this
book of popular theology were
also available in a compact, low-
priced, paper-covered edition,
so it would reach a larger audi
ence, since so many might pro
fit by its lessons.
Best Wishes
NEAL HAWKINS
CONTRACTOR
ALL TYPES GRADING AND EXCAVATING
ALSO —
CONCRETE AND ASPHALT PAVING
FORTY-THREE YEARS OF SERVICE
Main Office: GASTONIA, N. C. — Dial UN. 5-1281
BEST WISHES
FROM
National Bank
Of Commerce
Gastonia, North Carolina
BEST WISHES FROM
Rawlings - Todd
Company, Inc.
Frigidaire - Carrier - Combustioneer - Maytag - Bendix
Delco — General Electric — Youngstown
SALES - SERVICE
SALES: PHONES UN. 5-2386 & UN. 5-2387
SERVICE PHONES: NIGHT & SUNDAY
REFRIGERATION: UN. 7-6019 — 5-8772 — 5-4333
HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING: UN. 5-8772 — 7-7084 — 5-0020
TA. 5-2463
GASTONIA, N. C.
MY FIRST SEVENTY YEARS,
by Sister M. Madeleva, O. S. C.,
Macmillian, $3.50 (Reviewed by
Barbara C. Jencks, journalism
instructor, Saint Mary’s College,
Notre Dame, Ind.)
“Why has God made me? For
Him and His reasons, I had be
gun to be.” This is the theme,
of Sister Madeleva’s, life. The
story of her first seventy years
is a chronicle of some of the im
portant external events which
have marked her life.
The author says that the
silence of her text is all that she
will tell of religious experience.
The reader respects this judge
ment and privacy. If the full
sweep and depth of Sister Made-
leva’s religious experience is de
sired, one has only to turn to her
exquisite poetry. The autobio
graphy is like Sister Madeleva
in that it is dignified, restrained,
direct. It fails however to give
the full portrait. Sister Made-
leva, who has been troubador
of God in poetry, effective pub
licist for Catholic education in
lecture and convocation, has not
done justice to herself in her
autobiography.
Her story is the kind of book
that men will look to a hundred
years from now to find what
manner of Catholic educator
reigned in our day. The journal
is reminiscent at times of Car
dinal Newman’s. These two
great Catholic intellectuals hold
many things in common: their
literary skill and talent for ex
pression, for example. Sister
Madeleva had her “idea of a
university” too. She founded the
first graduate school for Sacred
Theology for Women fifteen
years ago. It is the school which
is honored with the autobio
graphy’s dedication.
To the reviewer however, the
most delightful portion of the
story is found in the childhood
vignettes. She points with her
poetic brush a picture of that
happy German-American home
of her beloved harnessmaker fa
ther, her devoted brothers and
mother. The chapter entitled
“Lucy Prepared Her Funeral,”
relating the preparation of her
mother for the journey to God,
is a classic.
“Why has God made me?”
The reader will not have to
progress far before his heart
knows what hundreds of her
students and many of the cele
brities who have passed her way
already know—that she took the
penny catechism 100 percent to
heart and has known, loved and
served God for fifty years as
a Sister of the Holy Cross.
“Someday,” she says in closing
her autobiography, “I shall have
only one Infinite, Absolute
Want. I shall not even want, for
the time being, my body. I shall
not even want the breath I
breathe. When the non-essen
tials of encumbering humanity
have been cut away . . . what
shall I say when I see God?” ,
MRS. CHRISTOPHER, by
Elizabeth Myers, Sheed & Ward,
$3.00. |
(Reviewed by Elizabeth Hester)
On this book, one of the jack- .
et quotes of critical comment is
that Mrs. Christopher is “a mod
ern Morality.” That this is pre
cisely true, unfortunately, is the
book’s failure, since is purports
to be a novel. In a Morality,
ideally the actor’s status as a
symbol is never parred by his
disconcerting realism as an in
dividual. On the other hand, in
a successful novel, a character’s
realism as an individual in nev
er done violence by his duties
as a symbol. In Mrs. Christopher
there is a constant limping va
cillation between these two op
posed art forms, with the result
that a great deal of brilliant
writing has been most unhap
pily used.
For Miss Myers, an English
woman who died in 1947 when
only thirty-four, was most as
suredly a brilliant writer. This
book, which because of a single
rampant violation of a quite el
ementary rule fails as a novel,
is nevertheless working alive
with superb vignettes, sparkling
observations, and even generous
splashes of prose poetry. Along
with that of others, it is the
butchered brilliance of Miss
Myers’ splendid talent that is
our strongest argument for
highly developed schools of cre
ative writing. For writing pur
poses, here within this woman
were all the raw materials of
wonders; what was lacking was
simply a profound command of
the techniques and discipline of
her craft.
Despite its shortcomings, this
selection in the Thomas More
Book to Live group is one of the
small handful of genuinely in
teresting Catholic novels to be
published in this country in re
cent years. Even when misused,
genius rarely fails to fascinate.
l&rly researcher will welcome
with open arms both these facts.
What with the many new trans
lations of the Bible, the diffi
culty of finding the wanted
text, even after checking volum
inous concordances according to
key words, becomes greater and
more complicated. The book is
particularly valuable to busy
librarians of secondary schools
(for students in religion classes)
whose budget is always inade
quate and often a minus quan
tity, and whose pupils are ha
rassed by the need of getting an
assignment done and over with.
Over and above a compre
hensive index to all the books of
the Bible according to subject
matter this much needed refer
ence work contains alphabetical
lists of the miracles, parables
and prophecies of Christ which
are narrated in the Gospels and
a chart showing the place, and
in how many of Gospel writings,
they can be found.
REFLECTION ON AMERICA,
by Jacques Maritain, Scribners,
$3,50.
(Reviewed by Leo J. Zuber)
In 1956 Jacques Maritain con
ducted a 3-day seminar at the
University of Chicago under the
title “Random Reflections on the
American Scene.” A careful re
cord was made of the seminars:
the typescript became the origi
nal unedited manuscript for this
book. Random they may have
appeared and may actually have
been; however, there was a fine
degree of order in the presenta
tion. It probably was a causerie,
chatty and informal sessions,
which by their character veiled
serious content and considera
tion.
Maritain has lived in this
country for a considerable num
ber of years; he is completely
at home in France and else
where in Europe. His book is in
some contrast to the efforts of
fellow European authors, some
of whom have spent little more
than the proverbial week-end in
the United States and then have
rushed fearlessly into print on
this country. Maritain is an in
tellectual, an experienced
(Continued on Page 7)
GOOD WILL
SALES, INC.
★ BIGGER VALUES
★ FASTER SERVICE
★ EASIER TERMS
DIRECT-BY-MAIL TO YOU
BOX 3 1516 YORK ROAD
TELL ME, STRANGER, by
Charles B. Flood, Houghton
Mifflin, $3.50.
(Reviewed by Flannery
O’Connor)
In fiction there is nothing
worse than the combination of
slickness and Catholicism.
Whenever problems of faith are
dealt with in a novel, the novel
ist has already committed him
self to enter the work at a cer
tain level and to people it with
characters more than two di
mensional. In this third novel of
Charles Brancelen Flood, a
young man becomes bored ana
lysing securities for a Wall
Street firm and leaves his job
to travel abroad as assistant to a
woman photographer. The lady
is blonde and divorced; the
young man is nothing much but
a Catholic. Proximity produces
an affair. Although the lady’s
assets are more immediately ap
pealing than the Church’s, the
young man gives her up. How
ever, his commemorable action
appears to stem from the faith
of Mr. Flood rather than his
own, and this is because he has
never come alive as a person.
He is depthless and the author
doesn’t seem to be aware of it.
The result, fictionalized apolo
getics, introduces a depressing
new category: light Catholic
summer reading.
CATHOLIC VIEWPOINT ON
CENSORSHIP, by Harold C.
Gardiner, S.J., Hanover House,
$2.95.
(Reviewed by
Rev. John Schroder, S.J.)
What constitutional right
have Catholics to try to dis
courage the wide distribution of
literature and movies that they
consider objectionable? This dif
ficult problem is admirably
treated by Father Gardner. Ob
viously, the subject is a bit hea
vy but, like a good T-bone, most
satisfying to those who digest it.
For appetizers, countless in
teresting facts like the follow
ing are included: Since the Le
gion of Decency began in 1936,
no “C” movies and only seven
“B” movies have won Oscars; of
the 4,000 books on the Index,
two-thirds are technical and
professional works; only one
English novel (Pamela) has been
indexed, and no American nov
el; although 48 states have ob
scenity laws,” the courts are so
slow that the Legion of Decen
cy and the National Office for
Decent Literature are necessary;
these two organizations do not
aim at censoring, but rather at
buiding public opinion.
The author gives special treat
ment to the thorny problem of
when a book or movie is con
sidered obscene.
BIBLICAL SUBJECT INDEX,
by William J. Kiever, Newman,
$4.50.
(Reviewed by Cecilia L. Hines)
As a librarian, Brother Wil
liam J. Kiever (Marianist), is
most alert to the tools necessary
and available to the busy re
searcher. Brother Kiever now
shares with priests and lay
men the product of fifteen years
work with a reference book
that is neither cumbersome nor
relatively expensive.
The usefulness of this small
volume lies in its large number
of cross references and the very
fact that it is not cumbersome.
The student as well as the scho-
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA
Compliments Of
GASTONIA MUTUAL
BUILDING AND
LOAN ASSOCIATION
ORGANIZED 1905
GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA
THOMAS REALTY CO.
MAKE YOUR FUTURE HOME
IN
GARDNER PARK
You Will Be Glad You Did!
Chess Thomas Elmore Thomas
GASTONIA, N. C.
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
INCORPORATED
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPLIES
Telephones: Day 7133, Night 5-4122
1512 EAST OZARK GASTONIA, N. C.